


Doing Enough

by Footloose_Poets



Series: Tony Built a Son [5]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Iron Dad, Mind Manipulation, Overprotective Tony Stark, Parent Tony Stark, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Spider-son, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, android!peter, angsty fluff, creator!Tony, here have it, it came out of nowhere, other Avengers appear too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 06:30:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14889416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Footloose_Poets/pseuds/Footloose_Poets
Summary: Tony tries to come down off the panic of thinking his world's fallen apart.  Peter does his best to help.





	Doing Enough

**Author's Note:**

> This happened in my brain. Enjoy :D

He first receives a call.

“ _Hey Peter_.” It’s Clint.  “ _Tony’s had a scare, we think you should talk to him._ ”

“Is he hurt?”

“ _Nah, kid_ ,” Clint’s voice is calm.  “ _He’s just shaken.  I think he needs to hear your voice._ ”

“…Okay.”

Peter isn’t entirely sure he understands.  Tony can reach him directly from his suit and any number of other devices, so why has Clint called?

There’s chatter he can barely make out on the other end.  It sounds like an argument.  There’s silence and Peter takes that as his cue.

“Hello?  Dad?”

“ _No_ ,” Tony’s voice snaps immediately.  “ _No, quit screwing with me, he’s not… stop it._ ”

“ _It’s Peter, Tony_.”  Steve?

“ _No. This is messed up,_ quit it _._ ”

There’s more arguing.  Tony’s voice starts rising but it sounds like the phone is carried away then.

“ _Never mind, Peter_ ,” Clint says.  “ _Sorry about that_.”

“What’s going on?” Peter asks him.

“ _He, uh, got hit with a spell or something that screwed with his head_ ,” Clint explains.  “ _He’s been hallucinating.  Wanda’s trying to counter it._ ”

“Is he going to be okay?”

“ _Yeah, he should be, kid.  The spell’s been removed, it’s just about helping him figure out which way is up again._ ”

Organic mind stuff makes so little sense.  It’s all so variable and Peter hates the idea of not being able to get a precise reading on the present.

“ _Listen_ ,” Clint’s voice sobers, and Peter finds himself worrying already.  “ _When he was hallucinating, it was about you.  It didn’t sound good._ ”

About Peter? “What did he see?”

“ _We’re not certain.  He hasn’t been very coherent._ ”  Clint pauses.  “ _But it was bad, kid._ ”

Well, Peter’s _definitely_ worrying now.

“ _We’re almost at the Tower.  We can debrief there.  Then just a quiet night for you two, okay?_ ”

Peter doesn’t know what to do while he waits for the Quinjet to arrive.  Is there something he could be preparing?  Should he be researching?  He tries to for five minutes, scanning through several hundred online resources about hallucinations, nightmares, and psychological trauma, but none of them say anything about mental manipulation and does that mean they don’t count?

He ends up on the Tower helipad, waiting.

The Quinjet finally touches down fifteen minutes and seventeen seconds later.

It’s a long time before anyone disembarks.  Peter is about to go in when Tony steps out, still suited up.  Bruce has a hand on his shoulder, and Tony moves so stiffly that maybe he wouldn’t be moving at all if it weren’t for the gentle encouragement.  His helmet is retracted and his face is pinched, lips set in a tight line.

They make it halfway across the helipad before he spots Peter and freezes.

Peter can’t wait anymore and moves forward to meet them.  Tony’s eyes widen and he seems to grow more anxious closer he gets, but Peter’s not going to stop now.

Well, he stops when he’s only three feet away and Tony’s shown no improvement because maybe the unwavering certainty he finds reassuring from his father doesn’t do the same for the man himself.

Bruce offers a soft smile, fingers white as he apparently holds Tony in place.  “Hi, Peter—”

He’s cut off as the suits opens and Tony closes the gap, grabbing Peter’s head in his hands.  His eyes dart over every inch of his face, troubled.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

“Yeah, Dad.”

There is no sign of belief in Tony’s body language as his hands move to grip Peter’s shoulders and his gaze continues to scan him.

“I’m fine,” Peter tells him again.

Suddenly Tony’s holding him tight against him in a crushing hug.  He feels his father’s face pressed into his hair and hears his heart fast and hard.

“ _Oh god_ ,” Tony breathes.

Peter circles steady arms around his waist and waits, unsure of what else he can do until Tony lets go.  He registers movement ahead: the Avengers disembarking.  None of them sound like they get too close, even when a couple walk past and into the Tower.

“Tony,” Peter hears from Steve as the man steps closer.

Then Tony flinches hard, his pulse spiking and embrace tightening.  Peter doesn’t miss the way he seems to curl over him for just an instant.

Steve has moved back.  “Sorry.  We should go inside, get this debrief done.”

“Not much to debrief,” Tony mutters.  “We got in, beat up the bad guys, won, no one’s hurt and Peter died seven times.”

No one responds to that.

“What did we learn?  He’s never leaving my Tower,” he says.  “Debrief done.”

Steve makes a sound of protest but Bruce interjects.

“We can manage,” he says.  “Try to get some rest, Tony.  Avoid stimulants tonight.”

Tony mutters something at that but it’s barely audible.  Peter hears Steve and Bruce walk off.  They’re alone on the helipad now, Tony still holding Peter like it’s the only thing keeping him from disappearing at any moment.

Peter isn’t sure how long he should let this go on.  “Dad?”

Tony’s chest rises and falls with a deep breath.  Finally, he pulls away and looks over Peter one more time.

“Wanna go build something?” he asks.  His smile is so forced it almost looks painful.

“Sure, Dad.”  Peter hopes his own is more convincing.

There’s a reason Tony wants to build.  As soon as they enter the workshop he orders FRIDAY to secure it and a suit stands in sentry mode at the door.  They have no current joint projects but Tony doesn’t propose any at first, instead wandering about the workshop fiddling with unfinished gadgets and alternately hovering by Peter and by his latest experimental repulsors.

“You’re okay?” he asks after half an hour.

“I’m okay,” Peter assures him.  “I’ve been at home all day.”

Tony nods.  He seems to finally commit to the repulsors.  Even as Peter makes sure to sit nearby, he slowly sidles closer to him over the hour.

“How was your day?” he asks at one point.

“Good,” Peter says.  “Kinda boring, I just worked on Lego today.  I… ordered some more pieces.”

He’d _really_ wanted them, but they had a rule that there was supposed to be no online shopping without Tony’s prior permission.  That… hadn’t stopped him today.

“Cool,” Tony says with a tiny smirk, and Peter is so relieved he almost forgets to be concerned – _almost_.

He tries to join in the work.  Even on more precision-based projects where one set of hands is better than two they always bounce ideas off each other, but Tony can’t seem to follow for long before he’s too distracted to keep up.  He scowls at the repulsor as he tinkers with it.

“Maybe we should finish up for tonight?” Peter suggests when half past ten _finally_ rolls around and he might not get immediately scoffed at.

Tony eyes him for a moment, then glances at the suit, still standing sentry at the door.  He swallows.  “It’s your bedtime, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

Tony nods, shoulders sagging.  “Okay.”

He keeps an arm around Peter’s shoulder the entire way to their floor and to his bedroom.

“Goodnight,” Peter says, because this is where they usually part ways.

But Tony leads him right on into the room and watches as he climbs into bed.  He sits on the edge and starts to run his fingers through Peter’s hair.

This is the first time he’s tucked him in for months.

Peter would enjoy it if it weren’t for that fact.  Instead, he is very, very concerned.  He lies there, letting Tony sit for a while because maybe he just needs this little reassurance?

But then forty minutes pass and Tony is still there.

“Aren’t you tired?” Peter asks him.

He must be because he looks positively haggard, but he only shrugs.  “Not really, kid.”

“Well, thank you for tucking me in.”

Tony’s brow furrows.  He seems to recognise the implication there and withdraws his hand.

“Goodnight, Peter.”

He doesn’t move, though.  He just sits there, watching his hands.

Peter can’t stand this anymore.  “I’m okay, Dad.”

“I know.”

“Do you?”  Peter sits up.  “You’ve never been like this.”

“I’m fine, Pete,” Tony says, but his face is pained and he still hasn’t moved.

“It wasn’t real.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m _totally_ fine.”

“Okay.”

Peter doesn’t know what else to do so he crawls over and wraps him in a hug.  Tony returns it immediately, twice as hard.  His breathing is shaky but his heart is calmer than Peter’s heard it all night.

“I lost you _seven_ times,” he whispers.  “And every time felt completely _real_.”

Peter squeezes him a little tighter.

“I couldn’t do enough to stop any of them.”

Tony’s breath hitches and he shifts to rest his forehead on Peter’s shoulder.  It takes a moment to work out that he’s listening.

For a long time, Peter’s whirring is the only noise in the room.

Eventually, Tony gives a heavy, weary sigh.  “Sorry, kid,” he says, sitting up again.  “This isn’t your problem.”

“It’s okay, Dad,” Peter tells him.  “ _I’m_ okay.”

Tony nods.  “Yeah, I know.”  He scrubs a hand over his face.  “I should probably get some rest or something, huh?”

Peter agrees, but Tony needs to _know_.  “You’re doing a good job.”

“I could do more.  There always more.”

“You’re doing enough.  You do _so much_.”

Tony smiles.  “Okay, Pete.”

He doesn’t look entirely convinced, but Peter reads so much more belief there than he’s seen all night.  That’s a bigger comfort than all of the hugs and stroking and sentries.

Peter lies down again.  “Please don’t spend all week upgrading our security.”

Tony promises he won’t.  It’s a lie.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I appreciate every one of you!
> 
> This AU has a dedicated Tumblr, feel free to check it out [here!](https://friendly-neighborhood-android.tumblr.com)


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